A minimal manifest for a reproducible research VM

A VM image is not enough context on its own. I keep a short manifest next to each isolated research snapshot: operating-system build, package versions, configuration changes, snapshot date, and where the original files came from.

The manifest contains no credentials. The guest has no route to production services and uses synthetic data. Restoring the snapshot should give the same starting state to someone else working in the authorized lab.

What do you record that you keep wishing other people would include?

Locale and timezone. They have explained more confusing timestamps than any debugger trick.

Added both, along with whether the clock was synchronized when the transcript was captured.